Relying on youngsters

Relying on youngsters

Sports Reporter

Dinesh Karthik has a big hole to fill in the Indian batting line-up. Replacing someone like Mahendra Singh Dhoni is no doubt going to be difficult, but the batsman feels that the youngsters are more than capable of making a turnaround from the eight-match winless streak starting from today when they take on Bangladesh in their first game of the Asia Cup.
"I think it's a big tournament for all of us. It's going to be exciting for all the young players in the team and we are looking forward to it," he said in the pre-match press conference.
"I think Bangladesh is a fantastic one-day team. There were couple of really close games against Sri Lanka, everybody knows, they are a good one-day unit. Obviously we will be giving a lot of respect to their abilities. But at the same time we will go in all guns blazing," he added.
India's main issue will be settling their middle-order batsmen. Without the likes of Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina, they will have to fill it in with Karthik and two other batsmen. They have the options of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, who however, are more used to batting at the top. They also have in the list Ambati Rayudu and Stuart Binny both of who could add up to the inexperienced middle order. The bowlers are expected to remain constant with Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Aswhin in the spin department, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami and Varun Aaron handling the pace department.
Hitters Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are expected to make-up the top-order.
Despite the inexperience, Karthik believes that they will hit form.
"There are plenty of guys who are very experienced and everybody will try pool in and give it their best shot. For me it's all about coming here and getting into the zone as soon as possible," he said.
The absence of Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan from Bangladesh's squad according to Karthik, might lead them to work on new strategies. "They are major players and if they are going to be replaced, we would not know about their replacements as much," he said.